Media Relations

March 21, 2016

Rodeo Realty President Syd Leibovitch talks real estate prices to L.A. Weekly

L.A. Weekly is wondering whether new train lines will bring gentrification to Van Nuys.

The newspaper is raising the question after The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced its new transit plan on Friday. According to L.A. Weekly, the plan includes a rail tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass, connecting the Valley to the Westside, plus a new transit line along Van Nuys Boulevard, all the way up to Sylmar.

van-nuys-blvd-valley-mission-medical — Empty commercial space on Van Nuys Boulevard/Gene Maddaus

Writer Gene Maddaus spoke to Syd Leibovitch, owner of Rodeo Realty–the Valley’s biggest real estate firm, to see if the plan would cause housing prices to skyrocket in Van Nuys.

“While real estate prices in the rest of L.A. have shot up dramatically in recent years, in the Valley prices are only now reaching their 2007 peak,” said Leibovitch. He said the 405 commute plays a large part in that.

“A new transit line would change prices dramatically,” Leibovitch told L.A. Weekly. “If they drill a tunnel under the Sepulveda Pass, I think the whole Valley would go up. It would be a great thing.

According to the article, it’ll be 2027 before the lines open. Several decisions still have to be made, including on whether the line will be a bus rapid or a train.

To read the entire article, click HERE

March 21, 2016

Rodeo Realty in Haute Residence article

The biggest names in luxury real estate came together last week for Haute Residence’s third annual Los Angeles Real Estate Summit.

Haute Residence wrote an article on the event and also summarized the summit in a one-minute video — which included Rodeo Realty President Syd Leibovitch and Beverly Hills agent Ben Bacal.

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This year’s summit started with the all-female “Power Women” panel, which included Cindy Ambuehl, Paula Ansara-Wilhem, Sally Forster Jones, Linda May, Jade Mills, and Tami Pardee. The women discussed the impact of gender and digital marketing in today’s real estate market.

516056384.3871929271 — “Power Women” Panel: (from left to right) Cindy Ambuehl, Paula Ansara-Wilhem, Sally Forster Jones, Linda May, Jade Mills, Suzanne Perkins, and Tami Pardee

The second panel, “SoCal Power Broker”, included Stephen Kotler, Myra Nourmand, Kurt Rappaport, Billy Rose, Stan Richman, Frank Symons and Leibovitch.

The article mentions Leibovitch “offering some simple, yet effective advice” at Thursday’s event.

“Do what you’re comfortable with,” Leibovitch stated.

516056586.387193220 — “SoCal Power Brokers” Panel: (from left to right) Stephen Kotler, Syd Leibovoitch, Myra Nourmand, Kurt Rappaport, Billy Rose, Stan Richman, and Frank Symons

The summit concluded with the “$100 Million Club” panel, which featured Josh and Matt Altman, Ben Bacal of Rodeo Realty, Aaron Kirman, Joyce Rey, Randy Solakian, and Branden and Rayni Williams.

516056324.387192842 — “$100 Million Club” Panel: (from left to right) Josh Altman, Ben Bacal, Aaron Kirman, Joyce Rey, Randy Solakian, and Branden and Rayni Williams

Seth Semilof, co-founder and publisher of luxury publications Haute Living, Haute Residence, and Haute Time, and Timothy Lappen, Esq., founder and chairman of Luxury Home Group, a real estate legal group, moderated this year’s summit.

To read the entire article on Haute Residence’s third annual Los Angeles Real Estate Summit, click HERE

March 19, 2016

Economic update for the week ending March 19, 2016

Stocks have another strong week – Stocks gained ground for a fifth straight week. Stock markets have now gained back all the losses suffered in the first 6 weeks of 2016. Earlier in the year stocks were pounded by falling energy stocks due to low oil prices. Those stocks have made back their losses as oil prices have rebounded. Benchmark U.S. Crude oil was $39.44 a barrel Friday, up from a 13 year low of $26 on February 11. Higher oil prices help economies in oil producing regions. Better economic conditions lead to higher spending which helps all sectors of the economy. The price of the dollar has also settled and has dropped about 10% after reaching the strongest levels in decades. This helps the outlook of U.S. exports, as a weaker dollar makes U.S. goods cheaper overseas. Other developments have been that reports on manufacturing, hiring, and construction spending have shown that the U.S. economy is still expanding. The Federal Reserve announced at its meeting this week that there will be fewer interest rate hikes this year than they previously expected. This also helped stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 17,602.30, up from 17,213.31 last week. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,049.58, up from 2,022.19 last week. The NASDAQ closed Friday at 4,795.65, up from 4,748.47 last week.

Bond yields drop after inching up over the last few weeks – The 10 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 1.88%, down from 1.98% last week. The 30 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 2.68%, down from 2.75% last week. Mortgage rates follow bond yields so we watch bonds carefully.

Mortgage rates -The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey released on March 17, 2016 showed that average mortgage were as follows: The 30 year fixed average rate was 3.73%. The 15 year fixed average rate was 2.99%. The 5/1 ARM average was was 2.93%.

California’s unemployment rate falls to 5.5% – California employers’ added 39,900 non-farm jobs in February according to the Employment Development Department. The 5.5% unemployment rate was an 8 year low, continuing a downward trend.

Southern California home sales jump in February – Data firm CoreLogic reported that a total of 15,373 existing Southern California homes and condominiums were sold in February, up 9.1% from 14,096 in February 2015. Month over month the number of existing home and condominium sales were up 5.1% from January. The median price in the region consisting of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties was just 3.7% higher than last February, according to CoreLogic.

Have a great weekend!

March 18, 2016

The Hustle features Rodeo Realty’s Ben Bacal property video

The real estate industry just got about 1,000,000x cooler, that’s according to online website The Hustle.

By “cooler” they are referring to Rodeo Realty agent Ben Bacal’s 864 Stradella video.

The article is headlined, “This Video Advertising a $48.5m Home Could Be a Sign of Things to Come”. Writer Kendall Baker talks about Bacal’s video changing the real estate industry in a way that no one predicted.

“It feels and looks like a Super Bowl ad, not a modern day replacement for the classifieds,” said Baker.

So amazed by the real estate video—Baker said he decided to reach out to the creative producer that put the video together, Brian Bell.

Bell talks about his partnership with Bacal and how the two have been working together to create incredible high-quality videos.

“We never thought we’d get into filming real estate, but within two weeks, we’d completed two projects for him,” said Bell.

He says the Stradella video took 2.5 weeks, which included 2 full days of shooting.

“Our budget for the shoot was $40k, which included casting, crew, equipment rentals (we rent the top of the line cinema cameras, lenses, and equipment), all drone expenses, and post production,” said Bell.

Bell also tells Baker there are more exciting developments on the horizon.

To read the entire article, click HERE

March 18, 2016

LA Times features Rodeo Realty’s Beverly Hills agent Josh Flagg

la-2456156-fi-my-favorite-room-kdm-018-jpg-20160315 — (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Josh Flagg says his favorite room is the formal living room in his parents’ Beverly Hills home.

The Rodeo Realty agent and star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing” was featured in the Los Angeles Times this week. The article, My Favorite Room: Josh Flagg, includes a photograph of Flagg with his parents, Michael and Cindy.

Flagg describes his favorite room, which according to him, is filled with “beautiful Scalamandre and Oscar de la Renta fabrics”.

“If I want to admire a beautiful room with gorgeous artwork and beautiful space, I sit in the living room,” Flagg tells the LA Times.

The real estate agent talks about how he helped redesign his parents’ home.

“The front gates are a replica of an estate I love in Holmby Hills that’s a Paul Williams house: Joe Roth’s house on Mapleton Drive,” said Flagg.

Flagg also tells the newspaper how “Million Dollar Listing” has affected his career and also gives details on the property he’s dying to sell.

To read the entire LA Times article on Flagg, click HERE

March 17, 2016

Rodeo Realty takes part in Haute Residence annual LA Luxury Real Estate Summit

On Wednesday, March 16, Haute Residence hosted its third annual Los Angeles Luxury Real Estate Summit in the Kensington Ballroom at The London West Hollywood. The yearly event gives many the opportunity to learn and network from LA’s top real estate agents, brokers and developers.

This year’s selected lineup of expert panelists included President of Rodeo Realty Syd Leibovitch and Rodeo Realty Beverly Hills agent Ben Bacal. The biggest names in luxury real estate discussed what’s next for California’s real estate market.

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The summit, held from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., featured three panels; “Power Women”, “SoCal Power Brokers” and “$100 Million Club”.

Leibovitch spoke on several topics including effective marketing techniques, qualities he looks for when recruiting new agents and the future of the real estate market. He was part of this year’s “SoCal Power Brokers” panel, which also included Stephen Kotler, Myra Nourmand, Kurt Rappaport, Stan Richman, Frank Symons and Billy Rose.

The event concluded with the “$100 Million Club” panel. Bacal and several other expert panelists spoke on the current state and trends of luxury real estate in Los Angeles. This year’s “$100 Million Club” panel also included Josh Altman, Matt Altman, Aaron Kirman, Joyce Rey, Randy Solakian, and Branden Williams and Rayni Romito Williams.

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March 16, 2016

Rodeo Realty Calabasas agent Randi Feilich appears in KCET’s “SoCal Connected” segment

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Rodeo Realty’s Randi Feilich isn’t just a real estate agent—she’s also a spokesperson for Project Coyote, a non-profit wildlife advocacy group.

Feilich recently appeared in KCET’S weekly award-winning news series “SoCal Connected”. The prime time newsmagazine covers in-depth stories on the environment, economy, health and other substantive topics such as the growing awareness and concern about coyotes in Southern California.

Feilich was interviewed for a segment entitled “Coyotes: Kill Them or Coexist?” Reporter Derrick Shore spoke with the coyote advocate about the coexistence between people and wildlife.

“Wildlife has a presence here, everybody has a role,” said Feilich. “Coyotes are very vital to our ecosystem, they keep everything in check, the rodents, squirrels, the rats. If we didn’t have that our whole ecosystem would be off balance.”

She also gave a few tips on how to discourage coyotes from coming near humans. The story also included interviews with a National Park Service ranger and pet owners.

To read the article on the episode, click HERE

March 14, 2016

Rodeo Realty agent Ben Bacal in Realtor.com for kid-centric property video

Rodeo Realty agent Ben Bacal has kicked off the week by being featured on Realtor.com.

The website is calling his latest property video “‘Ferris Bueller’ Meets ‘House Party’”.

“If Ferris Bueller had been a billionaire and just a bit younger, the classic flick of kids skipping school for the day might have resembled this well-produced video,” said Realtor.com writer Claudine Zap.

Bacal is being highlighted for the well-produced short film he created for this week’s most expensive new listing, 864 Stradella Road.

To read the entire Realtor.com article, click HERE

March 12, 2016

Economic update for the week ending March 12, 2016

Stocks higher for the fourth straight week – Stock markets are now only slightly down for the year. They have made up the large losses suffered in Janurary and early February. The S&P, for example, is up 11% from its two year low on February 11. This four-week rally has been fueled by better economic data and rising oil prices. Oil prices have risen 47% from their low point just one month ago when U.S. crude oil hit a 13 year low of $26.21 a barrel. Oil prices and stocks have moved in the same direction every week. While low oil prices have hurt many parts of the global and local economy, consumers are benefiting. As gasoline prices rise at the pump it will be interesting to see what happens with retail sales which have been extremely strong, and auto sales that are at all time record highs. These two sectors of consumer spending have been bolstered by low gasoline prices which have given consumers more disposable income. The dollar which has been extremely strong has weakened a bit over the last few weeks. That’s a good sign for manufacturer’s outlook on exports, as a weaker dollar makes U.S. goods less expensive to foreign currencies. The dollar is still quite strong, but off its highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 17,213.31, up from 17,006.77 last week. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,022.19, up from 1,999.99 last week. The NASDAQ closed Friday at 4,748.47, up from 4,717.03 last week.

Bond yields higher – Bond yields have inched up over the last few weeks. The 10 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 1.98%, up from 1.88% last week. The 30 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 2.75%, up from 2.70% last week. Mortgage rates follow bond yields so we watch bonds carefully.

Mortgage rates up slightly for second week -The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey showed that average rates on March 10, 2016 were as follows: The 30 year fixed average rate was 3.68%. The 15 year fixed average rate was 2.96%. The 5/1 ARM average was was 2.92%.

We should start getting February home sales data next week. Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend,

Syd

March 11, 2016

Five Star Professional recognizes three Rodeo Realty agents

Rodeo Realty agents, Violetta Hargitay (Pacific Palisades), Betty Galvan (Northridge) and Debra Moseley (Studio City) have been recognized for their professional excellence and exceptional client satisfaction.

Five Star Professional recognized the three agents as Five Star Real Estate Agents for 2016. For the 4th year in a row, Rodeo Realty’s Pacific Palisades agent Hargitay has received the recognition.

The research team partnered with Los Angeles magazine to identify real estate, mortgage and insurance professionals in the Los Angeles area who deliver outstanding service.

The Five Star Real Estate Agent award program is the largest and most widely published real estate agent award program in North America. Agents are measured using an objective, in-depth research methodology with significant focus on customer feedback and overall satisfaction.

The research methodology allows no more than 7 percent of professionals in each category to receive the award.

The 2016 Five Star Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Professionals and Home/Auto Insurance Professionals do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list.